A film crew was here on Friday to prepare the advertisement for the new principal. Thanks to Simone and Elise who spoke as parents and Keenan and Amy who represented the staff. 

A second crew will be here on Monday 11th to film a new school promotional video for our website.  

Staffing Updates

Lee Schlooz will attend our staff meeting on Tuesday for 10 mins to listen to the staff perspective on the qualities required in the new principal.  This meeting is scheduled as a School Improvement Teams meeting so we will all meet Lee at 3:45 before moving off into our teams.  Lee will update everyone on the timeline and process. 

Staffing Updates

Georgia’s Last Day

Georgia Johnston will have her final day at St Joe’s on Tuesday before heading off to Vietnam. She has taken two years leave from her current position.  Good luck Georgia on this wonderful and exciting adventure and thanks for all that you have given to our school. 

Breeanna Saddington has accepted the role in F6 for Term 4 while Mark G is on LSL.

Ella Grundy has accepted the role in C3 for Term 4 as Laura heads on maternity leave.

Grounds and Maintenance

I am delighted to announce that Tom Wormald has been appointed as our new Maintenance Manager starting on Monday August 11th. Tom is the brother of Amy and has a wealth of experience that he brings to our school as well as trade expertise and building site experiences. 

Mark Riddle has also been appointed two days a week to our grounds and maintenance team. Mark is currently at Emmanuel and will continue working between the two schools.

You might have noticed that Taylah has returned to the cleaning and vacuuming team. She will be here 4-7pm each day.

Tom, Mark and Taylah are all employed by Danihers Facility Management but are still considered a part of our staff community e.g. social invitations, birthday celebrations, morning tea etc. 

Shirley Harris will continue to be employed by us and her hours have shifted to 4-7pm each night.

Peter Edge will also continue to be employed by us and maintain the hall and vinyl surfaces. 

We are looking forward to a long partnership with Danihers to continue to maintain and improve our facilities for the safety and pleasure of all. Thanks to Cathy for her oversight in this transition and for the juggling as we have replaced staff. 

School Improvement Teams (SIT) - Anne Ruddell

Room D3 - Kat Howard

Please read in conjunction with the Upcoming events list.

Week 3:

Tuesday 5th August:  Maths Competition (in Room E5)

Wednesday 6th August:  Maths Competition (in Room E5),  Eucharist Formation Day

Friday 8th August:  Division Lawn Bowls

Week 4:

Wednesday 13th August:  Foundation 100 days of School

Thursday 14th August:  Matt at Principals Conference 

Friday 15th August:   Matt at Principals Conference, Feast of Assumption Mass

Sunday 17th August:  2026 Foundation Interviews

LOOP Support:  When on LOOP duty in the mornings and afternoons, can you please look out for Luna Gapes- Fiasco(See photo) and help her out of the car and into the car? She needs to be sitting on the right side of the car behind the driver and this will help her to get out safely. Her Mum will stay in the car and let you know from the passenger window.

RRRR - Topics 7 & 8: If you would like help planning or teaching the lessons within these topics, or if you are aware of any student/s who may have trauma-related experiences related to these topics, please contact Gabe or Liz to discuss.

Student Attendance: Leadership is following up with the families of students who have ‘At Risk’ attendance. As phone calls are made, you’ll be tagged in the Simon note so you are aware of which students to watch. Please email Gabe and Liz reporting any absence after being tagged, so we can follow up. If you are concerned about a student’s absence, please contact Gabe and Liz to discuss further.

Positive Behaviour Matrix: The SIT will receive feedback from year-level reps at this week's meeting. We thank all staff for your engagement in this important process. 

Simon Behaviour Data: PLT meetings, please remember to review behaviour data for your year level at least twice a term. If you require assistance, please email Liz.

Action for Happiness Altruistic August:  You may like to use this calendar in your classroom to share happiness! Action for Happiness Altruistic August Calendar

LSO Feedback books: Please remember the classroom teacher is responsible for checking books and recording incidents on SIMON. 

These incidents could be entered as a weekly summary as explained below.

SIMON: Reminder, there is a section to record a Weekly Summary for students who display low-level minor behaviours in the classroom. This is located under: Incidents > Minor > Weekly Summary

Grade 4  Sacrament formation Student day - St Pius  - Tuesday 5th August 10:00 - 2:00 -  Students enrolled to make the sacrament of Eucharist will attend this day. 

Feast of the Assumption Whole school Mass - Friday 15th August 10:00 Specialist teachers please note this will effect you as you will not take your planned activity you will take your class to mass.  

A list of Buddy classes will be shared with you.  

We will endeavour for year 3-6  to walk to mass again however we will need to leave earlier so that we can start mass on time. 

Grade 3  you will be the year level that will be seated in the gathering space this time.  

Co created Prayer - School closure day - This will be held on Monday the 18th  August and will be held in E block.  We have Catherine Connors - The creator of co created prayer flying in from Brisbane to work with us for the day.  I hope it to be a very hands-on day that will leave you ready to take co created prayer to your classrooms.  Teachers who do not work Monday are invited to join the day and will be paid for the day.  LSO’s who work Monday will be invited to join the day. REL’s from other schools have also been invited to join us for this day.  

Teachers who do not work Monday but would like to come please fill your name on this list 

A rough agenda for the day is 

Morning Session

9am - Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country

9.15am - Introduction of the Co-created Prayer model

10.15am - Invitation to co-create prayer together and scaffolding

10.30am - Morning Tea

Middle Session

11am - Create and Prepare time

11.45am - Share time

12.15pm - Reflection

12.30pm - How can I use this model in my classroom, in my lessons, in my contribution to our school community?

12.45pm - 1.30pm Planning time

Afternoon Session

2pm - 2.30pm - Continued planning time

2.30pm - Sharing of planning progress, reflection and close

3pm - End of day

TAP hours - Congratulations, everyone!

A big well done to all of you who have already logged your required tally of hours — great job!

For those who haven’t quite finished logging yet, I know many of you have done the hours; you just need to get them entered. If you’re having any trouble or need help with the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out — I’m happy to assist.

If you're feeling unsure about whether you’ve reached the required number of hours, let me know so we can review it together. We’ll make sure everything is on track.

To support you further, DOBCEL’s Catholic Identity and Mission (CI&M) team, with the generous support of colleagues across the diocese, are offering some online hourly sessions (3.45–4.45pm) this term and next. These are a great opportunity to engage in professional learning that counts toward your TAP hours. Professional Learning Calendar

Keep up the great work — you're almost there!

WEAR GREEN FOR FARMERS

On Friday 8th August, we’re inviting all students at Joseph’s to wear green in support of Victorian farmers who are doing it incredibly tough due to ongoing drought conditions.

For some regions, it hasn’t rained properly in over three years. There’s no grass to feed animals. Feed prices are soaring. Families are under enormous stress. Yet these are the same farmers who help put food on our tables every single day.

“Wear Green for Farmers” is a statewide initiative designed to:

• Show farmers they are seen, valued and supported
• Help spread awareness — especially among our children — about where our food comes from and the people who grow it
• Raise funds (if families are in a position to contribute) to help deliver hay and emergency support through trusted volunteer networks like Need for Feed

This day is about solidarity, education and kindness. If you’d like to contribute,  you can donate directly via Need For Feed Disaster Relief.org - Donate or the QR code attached. But most importantly, we’d love to see a sea of green as our way of standing with the people who feed us.          

Could you take some time throughout the week for discussion amongst your class about this. 

DISCO

On Friday evening, 15th August are the Junior and Senior discos. A list has been sent around to classrooms, for students to add their favourite dance song. Could you please discuss this with students and display for them to add to. (Remind students that their favourite song mightn’t be a good dancing song)

We will require some staff to attend and supervise. I have attached a roster asking for help, if you could please consider your availability for the night. Disco Supervision 2025

New Cleaning Arrangements:  As we move to our new arrangement with Danihers for the Maintenance and part of our cleaning program, some changes will start to occur.

Firstly, we welcome Taylah back to our school who will be working on our school site on behalf of Danihers.  

The rubbish bins in all classrooms and office spaces will again be collected for you, you will no longer need to get students to take these to the bins each day.  You will now only need to empty your FOGO bins.

We also have a new vacuuming roster which commenced this week.  This may be updated again as we move through the first few weeks until we get the daily split right.  In case you missed the new roster, I have attached it here for you.

Vacuuming Roster

All cleaning will now be carried out between the hours of 4pm - 7pm, not during the school day.

There will also be a change to the way staff report any maintenance or OHS issues, but once we have that in place we will run you all through that.  Until that point, please continue to email anything you need to regarding maintenance, or anything you find broken/repairing.

Staff Reimbursements:  I have created a new form for staff to use when needing to lodge a claim for reimbursements.  I have added the link here, but I have also added it under School lInks on SIMON for future use.  Please complete this and upload photos of the receipts.

Staff Reimbursements

Fridge space in the staffroom:  While I do love all of the colourful lunch bags we all have, they do take up a lot of space in the fridges.  With so many staff, our fridge space is limited.  I am just asking you all to be mindful if you are putting your bag in the fridge….. Does the whole bag really need to be in there?  

FORKS!  I really don’t understand this one…. Both Pat and I have at different times purchased forks for the staff room this year, yet there are none available.  If you have taken your lunch back to your room to eat (which is ok), can the cutlery please be brought back to the staffroom…. In one classroom alone, 15 forks were found!

Award Presentation:   This afternoon I attended a very low key but nice presentation of my award certificate.

I am on LEAVE for all of this week, so will not be available.

Week 2

Lowes 20% off sale continues

Whole School Assembly, Room D7: 2:40pm, Friday 1st August

Week 3

PSA Meeting: 7:00pm, Tuesday 5th August

Wear Green For Farmers: Friday 8th August

Whole School Assembly, Room D3: 2:40pm, Friday 8th August

Week 4

Foundation 100 Days of School: Wednesday 13th August

Feast of Assumption Mass: 10:00am, Friday 15th August

School Disco Tickets Close: 12pm, Friday 15th August

No School Assembly: Friday 15th August

School Disco - Junior (F-2): 5:30pm - 6:45pm, Friday 15th August

School Disco - Middle/Senior (3-6): 7:00pm-8:30pm, Friday 15th August

Refer to the newsletter or PAM for further details on all these events.

Converge International is a free and confidential support service for staff and their families.   Ph 1300 687 327

• Jeff Vizon - Tuesday 12th August